The library system is moving to a new mobile app! The current library mobile app will not be available after February. This only relates to the library’s mobile app (used on phones and tablets). You can still connect to the library through your desktop, laptop, or mobile device’s web browser at https://dalycity.bibliocommons.com/ Projected date for the new mobile app is March. We apologize for the inconvenience

Cocoa Beach

Baker & TaylorFleeing an oppressive home for the battlefields of World War I France, a Red Cross ambulance driver engages in a passionate affair with a dashing army surgeon before dark secrets separate them and eventually lead her on a quest for answers in seaside Virginia.

HARPERCOLL

The New York Times bestselling author of A Certain Age transports readers to sunny Florida in this lush and enthralling historical novel—an enchanting blend of love, suspense, betrayal, and redemption set among the rumrunners and scoundrels of Prohibition-era Cocoa Beach.

Burdened by a dark family secret, Virginia Fortescue flees her oppressive home in New York City for the battlefields of World War I France. While an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, she meets a charismatic British army surgeon whose persistent charm opens her heart to the possibility of love. As the war rages, Virginia falls into a passionate affair with the dashing Captain Simon Fitzwilliam, only to discover that his past has its own dark secrets—secrets that will damage their eventual marriage and propel her back across the Atlantic to the sister and father she left behind.

Five years later, in the early days of Prohibition, the newly widowed Virginia Fitzwilliam arrives in the tropical boomtown of Cocoa Beach, Florida, to settle her husband’s estate. Despite the evidence, Virginia does not believe Simon perished in the fire that destroyed the seaside home he built for her and their young daughter. Separated from her husband since the early days of their marriage, the headstrong Virginia plans to uncover the truth, for the sake of the daughter Simon never met.

Simon’s brother and sister welcome her with open arms and introduce her to a dazzling new world of citrus groves, white beaches, bootleggers, and Prohibition agents. But Virginia senses a predatory presence lurking beneath the irresistible, hedonistic surface of this coastal oasis. The more she learns about Simon and his mysterious business interests, the more she fears that the dangers that surrounded Simon now threaten her and their daughter’s life as well.

Beatriz Williams writes A+ beach books, and this is probably my favorite of hers that she's written in a couple of years. It's more deliberately a mystery than most of her previous work (her books usually have some sort of twist, but they don't feel like they're written so deliberately to confuse as this one clearly was) -- I kind of gave myself a headache trying to figure out what, exactly, was happening. (And I was wrong, so it was wasted effort.) It ties in nicely to both last summer's A Certain Age and January's The Wicked City -- while reading those books is not a prerequisite to reading this, I think it would certainly increase readers' enjoyment. If you're looking for something glamorous and fast-paced and hard to put down to keep you entertained on the beach this summer, this is an excellent choice.